Some Chevron, Texaco stations still aren't selling premium

By Rhiannon Meyers

July 17, 2014Updated: July 17, 2014 9:00pm

Photo: Rhiannon Meyers

Some Chevron and Texaco stations still aren't selling higher-grade fuels, although all have been resupplied after a bad batch prompted a suspension of sales two weeks ago. (Rhiannon Meyers/Houston Chronicle)

Some Chevron and Texaco stations still aren't selling higher-grade...

Two weeks after Chevron suspended sales of premium and midgrade gasoline at Houston-area pumps when motorists complained about bad fuel, some of the 500 stations still aren't selling the products.

A Chevron Corp. spokesman said all the Chevron and Texaco stations have received fresh supplies, but some haven't resumed sales. He declined to say how many and couldn't explain their delays.

A spokesman for the Texas Department of Agriculture, which inspects and regulates the state's fuel pumps, said Chevron assured the agency that sales will resume shortly.

The company halted sales July 2 at hundreds of independently owned stations when some drivers noticed problems after filling up with premium gasoline. The bad fuel had high levels of a substance that makes valves stick and leaves deposits in injectors, potentially causing engine damage.

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While Chevron isolated the problem to one batch of premium supplied by a terminal in Galena Park where additives are mixed in, the company has not determined how the fuel became contaminated. Chevron did not detect problems with the mid-grade fuel but took it off the market because it is blended with premium.

State investigators randomly inspected some of the refilled stations, but results are pending, Agriculture Department spokesman Bryan Black said.